Hartford Expansion Possibility?

I think this is the only scenario where it could happen.

If/Once the Revs are a further north in Boston/Somerville, then it becomes a lot longer drive for folks in Connecticut and a team in Hartford therefore would be less of a threat to the Kraft's ticket base.

Were this to happen, then it becomes a possibility.

I think the biggest plus is it gives the Revs and Red Bulls another nice geogrpahic rival and MLS seems to be really into that these days.

But, I think Hartford would be behind several other markets MLS would prefer including St. Louis, Montreal, Miami, NY II and most of the Southeast. If all of those were addressed and MLS was still looking to expand or have a team relocate, then Hartford could be a viable option.

 

I hate to write this post.

But I have to.

MLS is not a good fit in Hartford. I used to think it might be but now that I have lived here for 3 years I am absolutely positive that Hartford is not a MLS market. Yes its an extremely wealthy metro area, and yes Hartford-Springfield represents 2.2 million, and yes we have a perfect stadium in East Hartford, but Hartford is not an ideal summer sport city.

Hartford has a coastline close enough that it saps the cities in the summer. But it is far enough away that it makes people forget about the city as well. summer is for the shore and lakefront camps. its a cultural thing.

Regarding sports, Hartford needs to Build a AAA baseball stadium just North of I-84. Hartford also needs a new arena to lure NHL or NBA or both to the city. I would say that maybe in 10 years an A-league might work as well. but it is a very tough sports town.

I could go on for a ton of reasons, but it hurts too much to say my adoptive home town is nopt MLS worthy, so just know that I LOVE MLS, I LOVE Soccer, I love Hartford, but sadly they do not belong together

 

Interesting but considering MLS plays mostly at night, not a valid point, or at least one that does not pertain solely to Hartford. The whole league has to contend with summer not being the ideal time for professional soccer.

 

I agree with this. I hate Hartford though . In all seriousness, I will say one good thing about Insurance City. I happened to be passing through there during the '06 WC and popped into a nice little Irish bar in downtown Hartford to watch a USMNT game and the place was packed to the rafters with soccer fans in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday I was pleasantly surprised.

If the Revs find a home in a nice new SSS in Somerville, then MAYBE... but otherwise, no chance. Bob Kraft would never allow it. I am fairly certain he has the power to block a move like that.

 

Q. F. T.

Hartford is a USL-1 market. At best. I'm not even sure a team at that level would do all that well there.

 

I'm going to preface all of this by saying I'd be all for Hartford getting in. I attended a few CT Wolves games in past years when they played the LI Rough Riders.

That said, all anybody needs is an owner. You could get an MLS team in Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta if you had a deep-pocketed owner and a stadium situation that was acceptable to the MLS BoG. There is plenty of money in the area but there's also lots of money in Boca Raton. How much of it is being spent on soccer? And UCONN is far from being the only competition for sports. That'd be like saying the only sports competition for a Providence team would be the Providence Bruins. With New York practically next door and that section of CT in the "sphere of influence" (to use B-in-B's term) an MLS team would be competing with New York pro sports as well as UCONN.

I don't see how Hartford is "begging" for a professional team. The league is looking for a local soccer fanbase that wants in to MLS a la The Sons Of Ben or the fan groups in Portland and Seattle. Marginal attendance numbers for the US Men and the sub-4K numbers for the two US Open Cup matches played 10 miles away in New Britain in '08 are not screaming "Hartford loves pro US soccer" to the suits in New York. Lastly as far as I can tell, with the team in Philly, the league is done with the Northeast unless somehow "NYC2" gets done. They are looking at the Midwest now as the next region to "shore up" (Garber's words) the league's support.

The entire thing is moot anyway. Kraft, like it or not (and you'll find few who criticize him as much as me), has the final word here and he's already said no. The league could, technically, overrule him but I highly doubt that would occur unless a big-time owner arrived with plans for an SSS. Playing in Rentschler Field would have to be short-term seeing as the league is fairly adamant these days about teams playing in stadiums they control, or at least moving towards being in one.

 

I would love to see professional soccer return to Hartford, but I think it only works in theory. My in-laws were residents for 20+ years, and I've spent enough time to know that in a ton of ways, Connecticut is a lot like New Jersey. When America's team still played in the shopping mall, their fanbase was almost entirely from Hartford county. North and West were Bruins fans, South and East were Rangers fans. It is similar to New Jersey, where there is still a ton of Rangers support in the North, and Flyer support in the south. It's slightly different when there is serious silverware in the trophy case, that the Whale never had. Part of the reason that the Borough Boys have been spearheading NY2, is when RBNY plays in Jersey, it disrupts that established parameter. Before anybody jumps on me for the Jets and the Giants, remember that both played inside New York City, and moved across the river for a more suitable venue. The BB arguement against RBNY is that, unless I am mistaken, RBNY has never played any match other than a friendly inside New York CIty. If NYC ends up USL-1 as speculated, I think Hartford should attempt to play USL-1 or 2 in the big R. I'm not sure what they might be able to draw from, but using both local, regional, and old NHL rivals, a new club has a chance to be successful, but the best judge of success is winning, plain and simple. If Petticoat Junction wants to establish a real soccer presence, simply start it, let it snowball, and go from there.

 

I think it was mentioned... but I don't see it working unless New England was to go from Foxboro to Hartford...

quite frankly I don't think it would be all that awful of an idea.... obvioulsy not as ideal as a stadium near Boston, but still in the New England area so you keep fan loyalty for the most part, and a city like Hartford might end up coming out strong for the Revs, being close to a smaller city is an improvement over being 40 minutes from a major city in my eyes...

of course that would bring up all sorts of Boston FC talk... but whatever... if Hartford really turned out to be a disastor, maybe 10 years or so down the road they could relocate back to the Boston area where they can actually build a stadium at that time

then just rebrand themselves the "New England Wanderers" while their at it...

 

Virginia Beach Mariners & California Victory

 

Let's put it on grass.....

 

Hey, it might work, if you could get the rights to the name and logo. There was a teams in the old ASL (2) called the Oceaneers. The New Englans Oceaneers had a cool logo, imo.

 

Give it up, Worldcup 76. Just submit to being a Revs fan now! We command you!

 

Yeah, 5 more fans and they get to 100!

 

So Jealous.

 

ok, So this subject has not died yet, so Its best I further kill it.

Remember I love the city(more for its past and potential than its present)

And Remember I have been a fervent fan of Soccer and the league since I was old enough to kick a ball and since the league was announced.

Hartford will not support MLS.

Furthermore
If the Whalers were soiled by becoming a soccer team, the one most indellible aspect of the hartford spirit would be dead forever.

Resources and pro sports:
Every community has limited resources for sports entertainment. Limited marketing limited ticket purchase power limited corporate support etc...
Facilities are also limited, and in Hartford this is particulary important.

We have 1 pro sports facility, the XL center. it needs replacement regardless of any pro team coming to the city be it soccer hockey or squash.
The city will sometime in the next 5 years put up a bonding issue to replace that arena and you can be sure that there will likely be a pro basketball or Hockey team cpming back to Hartford. I am not 100% sure an arena based team will be a success, so to have a new arena and its sports entertainment costs born by the market you can be sure there is no real room for MLS.

Also UCONN football has grown to take over the field sports heart and soul of the city.

As a city we need to build our new arena first and foremost. And do it in a way that connects Pratt Street to Allyn Street, and bring a pro arena (winter Sports) team to the city. This would make the city better and stronger physicly by making downtown physicly nicer. And this would provide the sports entertainment that we crave most. winter sports! In the summer we go to the lakes and the shore do things outside. In the winter we hate life. We need to make winter better by bringing Hockey or Basketball here. That is why The arena and NHL are the top priority.
Next we need to move the Rock Cats downtown. this would be a cheap way to bring more sports to Hartford, and improve the city experience.

after those, MLS and Football would be 3rd/4th priority.

There is just no real proven market here and the city is not big or strong enough to support a team. I hate that this is the case but it is an absolute truth. As messed up as it is true I think the best bet for a team to work in this market would be to put a stadium in Enfield attatched to the Hartford-Newhaven-Springfield commuter rail that hopefully will someday be built.

 

They play in different times during the year so it's not really relevant.

 

actually i went to the RB home opener instead of the devils game that night ( not because i prefer rb over the devs but i had been to a game a few weeks prior ). so for some parts of the year, its very relevant

 

"Voice of Reason", I think you may just be having a laugh. Everyone in Hartford goes away to a lake or in the shore in the summer? I know we're the richest state, but that's quite a stretch. A stadium in Enfield? Come on.

 

Good points.

If the Revs ever moved to Boston, then perhaps H-ford would be a decent fit but at the end of the day Hartford will be looking at the NHL as their pro sport, not the MLS.

Hartford would be a sublime fit for the USL-1 but I just can't see the MLS sticking yet another team in the NE corridor, especially when that city is Hartford. I'd love to see it happen but it makes no sense.

 

Does anything think USL would work in Rentschler Field? I wouldn't mind it, but I'm assuming the costs would be too high? Seems better to me than having it sit empty all summer..

 

USL-1 might work in the insurance capital of the world, but before we start buying tickets, we need to consider a few facts.

1) What kind of market for soccer does Hartford have? I'm sure you're gonna get some of the families from New Britian, Farmington, Newington, etc., but how far are they going to come for games in East Hartford? Bristol? Southington? Storrs? Waterbury?

2) What kind of ownership is available in HTFD? Is there enough potential sponsorship in the local community? Where is the money going to come from?

3) Considering that Hartford's pro sports legacy is the Whalers, and that UConn has really stepped into that void, is now the time for a sport that has failed in that market before? Hartford Bicentennials, Connecticut Wolves...

Not saying that Htfd wouldn't have a strong base of regional rivals, and some are from cities that still carry bad blood from the NHL days, but is it enough for "Petticoat Junction" to succeed this time around?

 

What the hell is Petticoat Junction?